Ernesto Padilla

Ernesto Padilla (born 1972 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban-American artist, graphic designer and cigar maker. He is the son of Cuban poet Heberto Padilla.

Early life Padilla was born to Heberto Padilla, a Cuban writer and poet, and his wife, the artist and poet Belkis Cuza Malé. Heberto Padilla was out of favor with the government of Fidel Castro at the time of Ernesto's birth, and the family was living under house arrest in an apartment in the Marianao neighborhood of Havana.

In 1979, Padilla and his mother were allowed to leave Cuba for the United States. His father, Heberto, was not allowed to leave Cuba until 1980. They initially settled in Miami, Florida, but later moved to Princeton, New Jersey.

Early career After graduating from high school in Princeton, New Jersey, He moved to Miami to take a job with Tabacalera Perdomo, where he was involved in marketing and product development. Ernesto attributes his love of cigars and the tobacco business to his father: "He always had a passion for cigars. He was like a secondary ambassador for cigars…I always loved it, always loved the business because of that." and embarked on a new career as cigar makers.

Padilla Cigars Within the Padilla Cigar Company Ernesto handles product development and marketing, while Carlos handles administration and management. Much of the graphic arts in the brand advertising, including band designs, is done by Coolbirth, Inc.

Padilla Cigar Co. is what is referred to as a "boutique" brand, i. e., a small company of limited production and distribution. This allows such a company to concentrate on achieving a high quality product. In the case of Padilla Cigars, they have chosen to concentrate on using very rare and limited Cuban-seed first generation tobaccos in almost all their blends,

In 2008, Padilla parted company with García due to the latter's expanding commitments to other cigar makers. Padilla opened up his own manufacturing facility in the Little Havana section of Miami, Florida, to which production of Padilla's "Miami", "Signature 1932", and "1948" cigars was shifted. The small El Titán de Bronze factory owned by Sandra Cobras was named as the maker of Padilla's Miami-based production, while a move was made from the Tabacalera Tropical factory to the TABOLISA facility in Estelí for manufacture of the company's new Nicaraguan line. This new line was to be unaffected by Padilla's 2012 move from Tabacalera Tropical to TABOLISA. Padilla La Terraza (released May 2011)

Special production cigars Ernesto has produced several special cigars that took advantage of some special small-crop tobaccos by creating a series of very limited editions which he called Edición Especial. These are briefly listed below.

Padilla Edición Especial en Cedro. This was a Toro Grande (6 x 52) and had a Connecticut wrapper surrounding tobaccos from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Peru. Each cigar was given a cedar sleeve. Padilla Edición Especial Obsidian. With a very deep black Nicaraguan ligero maduro wrapper, the Obsidian (a Toro, 6 x 54) was filled with Honduran Corojo from Jalapá mixed with dark, Nicaraguan tobaccos grown in Estelí, Nicaragua. Initial release was limited to 50,000 cigars, but it was later (late 2007) re-introduced as an exclusive to a single retailer, this time as a 6 x 54 Belicoso. This new version is made at Pepin Garcia's Nicaraguan factory, TACUBA. Padilla Edición Especial Achilles. This cigar was manufactured in Pepin Garcia's factory at Estelí, Nicaragua, Tabacalera Cubana. Production was limited to 60,000 of only one size, a Toro (6" x 50). A full-bodied cigar, the wrapper is a Corojo. Despite the low production numbers, it was reasonably priced. Padilla/Studio Tabac Special Edition Figuaro. Special production 2011 collaboration project between Padilla and Oliva Cigar Company, with a very limited one year production of 1,000 boxes of 10 cigars in a figurado vitola.

Planned lines Padilla Legacies

Footnotes